Pakistan Hunts for Missing Diplomat

Candidate pledges more US troops

(NEWSER) - Calling the situation in Afghanistan "precarious and urgent," Barack Obama today urged the Bush administration to make Afghanistan—rather than Iraq—"the central front in our battle against terrorism." In his first interview since arriving in the country yesterday, the Democratic candidate told Lara Logan on Face the Nation that an additional two brigades were needed to combat insurgents and the drug trade that finances them, USA Today reports. More»

Video surfaces two months after his disappearance

(NEWSER) - In a video aired today on an Arab channel, Pakistan’s missing ambassador to Afghanistan says he was kidnapped two months ago by Taliban militants, AP reports. In the brief clip, Tariq Azizuddin, seated on the ground with his driver and bodyguard in front of three armed masked men, says he has “lived comfortably” and adds that Pakistani officials in Iran, China and at home should comply with Taliban demands. More»

Hamid Karzai is in Pakistan today to discuss negotiations

(NEWSER) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Pakistan today, one day after telling the Wall Street Journal that his country has entered into three-way peace talks with the Taliban and the US. Karzai is in Pakistan to discuss the negotiations and request that country's help; Islamabad's cooperation is necessary, since Taliban fighters have reportedly been receiving support from Pakistan, the New York Times notes. The recent talks signal a breakthrough, considering the Taliban has up until now insisted it would not negotiate with Karzai's "puppet regime." More»

(NEWSER) - Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, arrived in the region yesterday as waves of killings were washing over both countries, the BBC reports. While touring Pakistan’s volatile frontier region, a local official was killed by a roadside bomb. At the same time in Afghanistan, where Holbrooke arrived today, suicide bombers killed 20 in Kabul, the New York Times reports. More»

Pledges continued US support

(NEWSER) - Five hours after his final visit to the country that defined his presidency, President Bush landed in Afghanistan this morning for an unsurprising surprise visit on his farewell tour. After a pre-dawn rally with US troops, the president renewed his support of the fledgling democracy in a meeting with President Hamid Karzai, reports the New York Times. More»